


Enthralled

by Decisions_Decisions



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Human John, Including Characters, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Vamplock, rations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-02 01:34:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5228888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decisions_Decisions/pseuds/Decisions_Decisions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John spent years hiding in plain sight, a human among vampires confident in his ability to pass unnoticed, until he was betrayed. As if that wasn't enough now the vampire that stabbed him in the back wants them to live together and he has little choice in the matter. Well it could be worse Sherlock leads an interesting life and John quickly becomes certain that life with Sherlock is strange and dangerous, but never boring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

John could feel his blood begin to creep to a crawl in his veins as he sat in the interrogation room shivering so hard it felt like his bones were rattling. The temperature was low enough to make every breath out leave his mouth in a white fog and every breath in sting his lungs. His coat was gone, he’d left it behind during his rush to get away, and his remaining layers were not enough to ward off the chill. He'd curled in on himself trying to conserve his body heat as he waited.

The hard metal seat was uncomfortable to sit on and so cold it wasn’t hard to imagine that he could end up frozen to it. For the first time in years he found himself wishing that someone would see that he wasn't a vampire and put him somewhere warm. Thankfully he'd only been in here for a minute after he'd been transferred here from a slightly chilly holding pen that would probably feel like a tropical paradise if they sent him back there once this was over.

In addition to the cold his mouth felt tingly, too dry, too wet, with a nasty sour taste mixing with the iron tang of his blood. The top set of his false retractable fangs no longer sat solidly in his mouth giving them a lopsided appearance that made him look like he was snarling. They'd been dislodged by an elbow that had managed to hit his face in the chaos and confusion of the raid. He reached up with his left hand, the one that wasn’t handcuffed to the chair and wiggled them until the adhesive gave way. He pulled them out of his mouth and placed them on the table. He ran his tongue over his blunt human teeth wincing as his mouth was flooded with the unpleasantly bitter taste of the adhesive. 

The vampire that entered the room hissed as the scent of fresh blood hit the air. He had silver hair and a face that held the barest traces of lines, a rarity in vampires that suggested he used to be human. He looked down at the fangs, at the trail of reddish pink bloody saliva that ran down the tips of the fangs that had always felt overlarge in John’s mouth. Bloodlust was just barely visible in his eyes but he looked away from the fangs turning to a clipboard to distract him from the temptation to attack the prisoner. John wiped at his mouth with his sleeve leaving a dark spot that stood out in bright red against the cream of his button up shirt. 

“Why am I here? You obviously know that I'm human and this room is freezing." John’s voice creaked and shook out of his throat, the words warped sounding strange even to his own ears without the fangs there to help shape them.

"The interrogation rooms were designed for vampires and we still have to process everyone else we captured in the raid so the room needs to be ready for the next person. You won't be in here for much longer. So let’s get through with this as quickly as possible so we can get you warmed up." The officer flashed a quick smile that vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"Captain John Watson formerly of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, doctor, and graduate of St. Bartholomew’s, registered as turned, but your blood tests suggest otherwise. Evidence suggests you are a current member of the underground blood market as a supplier and buyer of illegally obtained rations. Illegal human rations have been found on your person and in our raid of your flat, some disguised as vampire rations. Your tests find you clean of any chemical compounds that cause mental disruptions in vampires and any blood transmissible diseases that are harmful to vampires. That makes you clear for registration as you should be well aware.” The vampire said as though he hadn't just read off John’s most closely guarded secrets from a sheet of paper. 

John remained silent though his eyes and the shifting of his expression speak volumes. The officer looked up at him and sighed but continued dutifully the words flowing from his mouth as though he'd said them a thousand times before. "As a human, normally your criminal activity would be the responsibility of your vampire, but seeing as you don't have one your sentence will have to wait until after you are registered. You are being held until you are either registered to a vampire that helped with the raid or relocated to a human shelter. There you will most likely be registered to a vampire who will be responsible for you. You cannot be detained in prison for obvious reasons and you will not be allowed to go home for your own safety.”

“I was safe. I've never had any trouble hiding that I'm human and you only know that because of my blood tests." John said his voice soft, but not enough to hide the bitterness that he felt, his eyes sharp as he glared at the officer. 

“Humans are no longer safe in Britain, after the outbreak we lost almost half of our human donors. We're not there yet, but most of us feel that the world is on the edge of a crisis and people with fangs and without tend to panic when things start to look bleak. We're symbiotic creatures, we need each other to survive. You might not see it that way, but we aren't doing this because we think humans are lesser creatures. Most of us can still remember when we were human, well those of us who were human to begin with do." The silver haired vampire said reaching over the table to place a comforting hand on John's shoulder.

Another vampire entered the room pulling black leather gloves from his hands with a scowl on his face. His coat swirled around his legs, the light and shadow cutting dramatically across his pale face so that his face looked almost skeletal. John’s eyes went wide his mouth parted in a silent gasp as they locked eyes. He hissed the vampire like reflex almost second nature as betrayal hit him like a knife in the back. He barely bits back the shout of fury that builds in his chest and the storm of insults that reside in his throat. His face was pulled back in a wordless snarl, this time not aided by lopsided fangs, and his eyes were narrow slits focused on the elegant vampire that practically glided into the room. 

Shezza was almost unrecognizable without the layer of dirt and filth that had covered the addict in the market. He was clean his pale skin nearly glowing, unmarred by dirt or blood, his eyes that had been pools of black every other time John had seen them were a clear vibrant grey. His hands didn't shake and he seemed sturdy as he moved, His hair had been cut and tamed into a much neater but still wild nest of curls that looked silky and shiny instead of greasy and stringy. He was dressed in a sharp suit and a large coat with the collar popped to highlight his cheekbones and body instead of the oversized dingy layers of shirts and hoodies. The effect made him look taller and thinner than he'd seemed before and stood tall and confident his back straight instead of hunched.

"Ah Grissom." Shezza said with a smile that bared too much fang to be truly friendly. As the sound of that voice registered any hope that John had been mistaken about the betrayal left him along with any of the warmth that hadn't already been leached away by the cold.

"It's Greg Sherlock, if you can’t remember that Lestrade will do." Greg said with a sigh that left his mouth in a puff of annoyance though it seemed as though it didn't truly bother him much.

Sherlock and stalked toward John his eyes daring over the human with enough focus that John almost began to believe the myth that some vampires could read a man’s soul. "You were getting careless Doctor Watson you managed to pass as a turned vampire for a long time. An impressively long time, but eventually you’d have been found out. What were you planning to do when your secret got out?" Sherlock's unmistakable deep voice left his throat in a pleased rumble his eyes bright with excitement. 

He gave another fang filled smile only giving John long enough for his treacherous thoughts to begin to show on his face before he continued. "Unbitten, unregistered, with clean blood, and the ability to imitate vampires well enough that you can easily pass for one, you would have fetched them a pretty price if they had decided to sell you. That would be a shame for a human as clever as you, ending up in some rich leaches harem, no way to put that clever mind to work. No you'd be putting other things to work for them wouldn't you?" His voice was thick with the innuendo, but his face looked like stone, as though the nature of what he was implying didn't affect him at all.

John smiled the same way Sherlock had, though the effect wasn't quite the same without his fangs danger still leached off of him into the air. His fists were clenched by his sides and his eyes were sharp as he looked up at Sherlock as solid as stone. 

"Would I Shezza or should I call you Sherlock?" He asked, his voice holding all the pretense of innocence though it wasn't hard to hear the undercurrent of steel in his voice.

“Sherlock will do.” He said his fang bearing grin transformed into one much more real.

"Sherlock stop antagonizing the prisoner." Lestrade said sounding like he had earlier, mostly bored like he’d said that phrase over and over again. He turned his head to the door and called out in a voice just loud enough that whoever was waiting on the other side of the door could hear him. "Donavan take Doctor Watson back to holding. I'm going to have a chat with Sherlock." 

“Right away boss.” Donavan said as she entered the room her attitude reflecting a no nonsense personality. She shot Sherlock a glare but otherwise remained completely professional as she uncuffed John from the table and secured his hands behind his back. 

Lestrade walked out of the room and Sherlock followed dutifully after him with a roll of his eyes. They walked through the halls in silence until they reached Lestrade’s office. Lestrade sat in his chair behind his desk but Sherlock remained standing, his eyes roving the room as though he’d never seen it before when in truth he’d visited it many times. Lestrade looked up at Sherlock from his seat, but his anger made him seem to take up the entire room. He wasn’t very old by vampire standards, not as powerful as some, but this was his territory, and even Sherlock should know better than to push his luck here.

“When you said that you needed to interview the witness I let you on the condition that you actually did interview the witness.” Lestrade said the anger that he hadn’t shown earlier now fully in view.

“I was interviewing him, just not for the reason I led you to believe.” Sherlock said unapologetically before his face twisted in a way Lestrade recognized as, oops according to you I’ve made a mistake. 

“Not to say John was uninvolved, he was, but only enough for him to trade his useless blood rations for one’s he could actually use. In fact you have him to thank for the sudden drop in vampires dying from drug poisoning. Our dear doctor noticed a trend in the visitors to his clinic and had one of his patients lead him to its source. He was the one who convinced them that they’d lose fewer customers and make more money if they sold clean blood along with the blood from their human junkies.” Sherlock was practically radiating with a childlike sense of joy usually reserve for the more puzzling murders. 

“So he was the one behind this mess and if you already knew, why did you insist on interviewing him?” Lestrade said his anger cooled down enough that he was able to keep it out of his face and his voice.

“He made a suggestion and the only profit he made from it was edible food and lives saved. I needed to see how he would react.” Sherlock crossed the room his long legs eating up the small distance in seconds even without using any of his enhanced speed.

“Why?” Lestrade raised a brow watching Sherlock silently wondering what the genius had in store for them this time.

“I am in need of a donor and I'll be taking him home now; I've already filled out the paperwork." Sherlock pulled a manila file out of his coat setting it down on Lestrade’s desk with a grin that didn’t show any of his fangs.

Greg just barely bit back an annoyed groan as he rubbed at the headache that he just knew was going to develop one day, vampire or not. "I'm grateful for your help with this, but I can't let you take him. We still have a thousand things to do regarding this case. Your paperwork needs to be processed first and that can take weeks and that's when they like you. You've caused enough trouble for the administrative offices that they'll keep you waiting for a year at least and I still need to go through the rest of the prisoners and the paperwork."

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "I've already had it processed Mycroft owed me a favor and without me you would have never even known about the underground blood market. Mycroft will see to it that the investigation continues in a timely fashion without him and I will bring him in to see you if needed. You don’t have enough cells for your human prisoners so you need to register some of them anyway. I assisted with the raid, therefore I am entitled to register a human from the raid if I so choose. Now all I need is your signature so I can turn it in and we can be on our way."

Lestrade took the file flipping through it looking for any sign that Sherlock had lied about using Mycroft to get it processed. Unfortunately everything looked in order and as he sniffed at the paper the smell of Mycroft, the musty aroma of old government building, vampire, and aged paper was revealed to be the dominant scent. John's information was filled in and he had little doubt that it was as meticulously researched and accurate as anything else that passed through Mycroft's hands. 

"Are you sure you want him, no one who pretends to be a vampire to avoid being registered actually likes vampires. He might prove to be more trouble than he's worth, but since you do have everything ready and I know you won't see sense get Donavan to escort you to pick him up. And don't forget to turn your paperwork in before you leave." Lestrade said even as he reached across his desk to grab a pen. 

He signed his authorization of the registration on the dotted line that was labeled for him with a sticky note. He looked it over once more checking for the second time that everything was in order before he handed it back to Sherlock, who took the file tucking it back into his coat with a pleased smirk.

"Of course I want him, I'm in need of a steady supply of blood that doesn't come from flavorless ration packets. I also require a human compatible with my lifestyle and John Watson, is a doctor, a former soldier, and he thrives when he's in danger. He'll find me much more agreeable than most would in his position." His chest puffed up in pride as he popped his coat collar.

Lestrade couldn't hold it back and nearly doubled over and hit his head against his desk with laughter. Once he got his breath back he turned to Sherlock with a look on his face that was pure amusement. "Of all the words that could be used to describe you Sherlock agreeable is certainly not one of them.”

Lestrade’s laughter settled into a friendly smile as he gestured with his head toward the door. “Now go before you start anymore issues for me and keep this in mind next time you decide to cause problems in my division, I don't have to invite you onto my crime scenes."

"No, but then your arrest record would suffer. Afternoon!" Sherlock waved as he left the office a satisfied smirk twisting his lips.


	2. Chapter 2

John watched Donovan from the corner of his eye as she led him through the halls with his hands cuffed in front of him. Her dark hair was curly and fell at shoulder length the color a perfect compliment to her light brown skin. She kept silent and walked at a pace that John had no trouble keeping up with. He enjoyed the relative warmth of the hall, it was just warm enough to make it both a pain and a relief as his frozen hands and face thawed. The blood rushing back to his extremities made them tingle uncomfortably adding another annoyance to pile onto the embarrassment of being caught, the foul taste in his mouth, and the alien feeling of having his real teeth exposed.

John kept his eyes forward and lowered respectfully unwilling to do anything that could be interpreted as a challenge, especially not when he was doused with vampire pheromones and bleeding enough that the scent of his blood was on the air. Donovan met the eyes of everyone they passed with the well deserved confidence of a vampire that had survived the horrors of centuries. She tightened her grip on his shoulder whenever anyone got too close, her short but still sharp nails scraping his shoulder through his shirt. Her eyes were a warm brown at the angle he could see, but they seemed to flash gold when someone wandered too close.

She led John with a firm grip on his shoulder into the holding pens, the tension that had followed them from the interrogation rooms fading. She opened one of the cells and John walked into it allowing her to unlock his handcuffs without a fuss. She left the cell locking it behind her before she walked over to a small desk and threw a small sealed bottle with a bright blue liquid in it between the bars. It landed with a bounce on the bed followed by a small bottle of water.

“It’s mouthwash, should take care of the smell of blood from your mouth. The adhesive you used helped a bit but nothing can kill an appetite like mouthwash.” Donovan said with a smile finally breaking the silence as she gestured at the bottle. “Lestrade should have offered you some once he realized that your mouth was bleeding, but the Freak distracted him.”

John nodded and turned the cap on the bottle of mouthwash tilting it into his mouth. He winced as it bit and stung at the open wounds but he dutifully sloshed around the burning minty liquid in his mouth and spat into the little sink. He uncapped the water and rinsed again the lukewarm liquid soothing the sting. He downed the rest of the water in two gulps and put the caps back on. Donovan held out her hand and he handed over the empty bottles with a quiet thanks.

She tossed the bottles in the bin. “Do you know why the Freak wanted to talk with you? He doesn’t usually do that, he just runs around on our crime scenes and calls the rest of us morons."

"Are you talking about Shez…" John stopped and shook his head as he corrected himself. "Sherlock?" The word felt almost as alien in his mouth as the absence of his fangs and the feel of it lingered like the taste of the mouthwash.

“He’s a Freak. You should see it, the things he thinks he can get away with. He’s the kind of vampire that makes the rest of us look like monsters. He doesn’t care about anything, he doesn’t do friends, so why is he so interested in you?” Her head tilted to the side as though she was weighing him up in her mind and the measurements just didn’t add up.

“Maybe I managed to impress him.” At the vampires stern glare he shook his head and followed with a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders. "I don't know why. It sounded like he was trying to remind me that disguising myself as a vampire is dangerous. He seemed to be under the impression that I’d find myself in a harem."

She laughed seemingly disbelieving that there was something that she could agree with Sherlock about. The laughter died quickly though and her voice when she spoke held a pain that had been years in the making just barely hidden behind a layer of sarcasm. “What else happens to unregistered humans in the kind of company you were keeping? You’re just lucky no one caught on to you for this long. ” 

“No if I was lucky I’d be home right now, not here in this cell.” The waiting to be someones juice box was implied but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Instead he sat down on the hard mattress rubbing the circulation back into his thawing limbs.

Donovan looked at him like he was a puppy in a store window or a child who had been exposed to the real dangers of the world too early. She smiled her lips pulling tight over her fangs with pity, the kind of unconsciously patronizing smile that every vampire he’d ever met had. “Unlike you I’ve actually seen what happens to unregistered humans who think they can hide away on the streets. You can put on fangs and posture all you like but it doesn’t make you a vampire. You slip up one time and you’d better hope that you only end up in a harem. Trust me you’re lucky we got to you first and if your luck holds out one of us will register you before you get sent to the shelters.”

Silence fell over them like a curtain pulled on a performance all of John’s arguments in favor of his freedom shriveling away like a dying plant. There was nothing he could do to convince her that he was right, the same way there was nothing she could do to convince him that he was wrong. A few seconds passed in this heavy silence before Donovan turned toward the door her fangs bared.

“Hello Donovan.” Sherlock bared his fangs in the facsimile of a grin before turning to John his false grin shifting into something softer and far more satisfied his voice following suit. “John.”

Donovan looked between the two of them before putting herself between Sherlock and John’s cell her eyes flashing gold in rage as she glared at Sherlock. “What are you doing here Freak?”

Sherlock regarded her coolly as he smiled and reached into his coat. He pulled a folder out of an inner pocket, flicked through it, and picked out a paper handing it to Donovan without a word. The other vampire narrowed her eyes at him but she took the paper from his hand and read over it nonetheless. Her eyes widened and she practically growled as she shoved the paper at Sherlock. She walked over to the cell and unlocked it throwing the door wide open. She gestured to the door with her hand. “Go with him and make sure he stops at the offices.”

As John walked past her she turned to watch her face twisted in a sneer that wasn’t meant for him. “I take it back. You’re right, you were safer on the streets.”

"Thank you Donovan, we will be going now." Sherlock said with a sharp smile before he seemed to vanish into thin air.

John blinked as Sherlock suddenly stood in front of him, almost seeming to have teleported with how quickly he had moved. His hair and coat however were a bit behind the rest of him and John was mildly amused at the way they snapped and bounced with the sudden change in speed. Though in truth he barely even had time to think before a large hand curled possessively around his wrist. The human was tugged out into the hallway the vampires ice cold fingers dancing lightly over the pulse in his veins. John scowled and attempted to subtly pry his wrist out of Sherlock’s grip which earned him a smirk and a squeeze just strong enough to remind him that he had no chance of winning this fight if he chose to start it.

They passed by other vampires but though a few looked like they would like nothing more than to fight nothing happened. John kept his head down wondering if the mouthwash had really made any difference but Sherlock like Donovan carried himself with confidence. He practically strutted like a peacock through the building but unlike Donovan he didn’t meet anyone’s eyes unless they stepped too close to John for his liking. His grip on John’s wrist tightened a few times before they stopped in front of a frosted glass door with the Seal of the Ruling Council proudly displayed on it. Sherlock finally released his wrist to hold the door open for him and John scowled but entered the room looking around it with a mix of caution and curiosity.

The room Sherlock had led him to was small and made to feel smaller by the large desk that rested just in front of the back wall. It was cool but not cold filing cabinets taking up what little space left free by the desk. The desk itself was cluttered, every centimeter of it that didn't house some form of essential office tool covered in papers. Only a small space right in front of the desk where a single uncomfortable looking chair sat was completely free from papers. A woman, almost completely hidden behind the outdated computer monitor that took up most of the desks left side, was sitting in the office chair hunched over a stack of paperwork. Her messy red hair was pulled up into a bun that was beginning to unravel, leaving her ear uncovered for the pen that rested there. 

She looked up and glanced at them before putting on a smile pearly white fangs peeking out from her pink lined lips. “Hello I’m Eliza Addams are you two here for registration.”

"I don’t want to register." John glared at Sherlock with a glare watching as the other man frowned almost looking genuinely hurt under the pouty scowl that twisted his lips and John felt a genuine pang of remorse for the friendship he’d thought that they had shared. 

"You do have the opportunity to opt out of the donation program.” Eliza said, but her tone made it clear that another shoe was going to drop.

Sherlock scowled at the news crossing his arms over his chest his posture reminiscent of a child that had been given a gift and then been told that he had to wait to play with it. Though perhaps a child who had been given a sweet and then told they couldn't eat it was more fitting a comparison in this situation. 

She smiled apologetically as though she truly believed that it would make a difference and John returned it with a halfhearted smile of his own. “Most people choose not to take it as doing so will greatly decrease the freedom that being a live in donor can give you. A live in donor can go to school, work at a job, and go almost anywhere they want as long as they follow the rules. If you do choose to opt out of the donation program you will be required to live in a human sanctuary until you either change your mind or pass on."

John felt his stomach twist, even he had heard rumors of how horrible the so called sanctuaries were and he'd practically lived as a hermit. Some of them had at one point managed to squirm their way into his nightmares. Tales of never enough food, horribly dirty tiny cold rooms, endless bloodletting, the constant feeling of being watched, and guards who deserved to be behind bars. Part of him thought that most of the tales were spread by the government to convince people that the only decision to make was to choose being a donor, but there was enough of him that believed in them to make the decision easy.

She pulled out two sheet of paper and handed one to John, the other she held out for Sherlock. She pulled the pen from behind her ear and handed it to John before continuing with what was beginning to sound more and more like the well-rehearsed words a teacher gave their students before giving out a test. "This is a copy of the rules you’ll need to follow as a donor, I’ve also given your partner a copy in case you need to refresh your memory. Please take a seat and bring that to me when you have read it in full and signed it."

John read over the page, a frown growing more and more prominent with every line. He read it over once just to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him and then he read it again. His mouth pulling tight as he bit back the urge to growl or hiss at the paper, years of ingrained vampire responses overpowering his natural human ones. By the time he'd finished reading it over a third time the words donor and registered partner had practically lost all meaning. He stopped reading and reminded himself what was at stake. His hand scribbled in his signature his freedom dissipating as his blood boiled in his veins.

The Rules and Standards for Registered Human Donors:

In the interest of your continued health, safety, and happiness, you must adhere to the following rules while registered to your vampire. Failure to comply with the rules will be met with punishments to be overseen by the Ruling Council.

1.) A Donor cannot withhold blood from their Registered Partner except in cases of illness or injury.

2.) A Donor cannot offer their blood to other vampires due to the possibility of territorial disputes.*

3.) A Donor must live with their Registered Partner though the Donor will be allowed to have a separate work environment, unless it requires the donor to live away from their Registered Partner, due to the possibility of territorial anxiety.**

4.) A Donor cannot attack or harm their Registered Partner except in self-defense. 

5.) A Donor may not engage in sexual relations with a vampire that is not their Registered Partner.*

6.) A Donor may only engage in sexual relations with another human with the express permission of their Registered Partner.*

7.) A Donor must follow the Law of the Land as containing human prisoners is too dangerous except in emergency situations. If the Law is broken, but the punishment is not enough to merit transfer to a human sanctuary, the responsibility for the crime will fall upon their Registered Partner.

8.) A Donor cannot break the law for the express purpose of bringing harm upon their Registered Partner. Breaking this rule will automatically disqualify a human from registration if it is proven they acted with malicious intent.

9.) A Donor has the right to take holidays, visit family, visit friends, and seek temporary solitude without their Registered Partner, but must not be away for more than a fortnight.**

10.) A Donor can marry another human if permitted, but they must either be registered to the same vampire or remain living with their respective Registered Partners.* 

*As recorded in scientifically studied relations between humans and vampires, vampires form protective instincts in response to feeding from their human donors. After feeding a vampire becomes increasingly protective of their human and any vampire that attempts to drink from their human is seen as a threat to be eliminated. This is commonly known as a territorial dispute. 

**For a vampire being away from a human they have fed directly from for extended periods of time can create a sense of unease and an increased need to be near and protect their human. This can lead to incidents where the vampire lashes out or attempts to hunt down their human. This is commonly known as territorial anxiety. 

I Doctor John Watson have read and understand the rules to which I must comply and I am willing and able to hold myself to the high standards of a Registered Human Donor.

He handed her the sheet and she looked over his signature for a second before stamping it with the seal of the Ruling Council and putting it aside in a plastic tray. She looked up and smiled at them. "Well everything looks to be in order. You'll receive your registration cards and a copy of the rules in the post. Good luck with your new partnership.”

“Thank you Eliza.” Sherlock said with a sharp nod before he turned and walked out of the room grabbing John's wrist along the way.

John walked behind him in silence silently contemplating every way he could think of to escape and dismissing each one almost as soon as the plans began to form. Running now would be useless, vampires were much much faster than humans and he wouldn’t get far. The only plan that had any chance of succeeding was patience. He wouldn’t have a hope of escaping until Shezza trusted him not to run. 

 

The cab pulled to a stop by the red awning of a small restaurant named Speedy’s and for a moment John wondered if they had stopped to get something to eat. He slid out of the car and followed Sherlock past Speedy’s to the dark green door beside it. Sherlock rapped his knuckles against the wood swaying slightly back and forth as he waited. John stood off to the side wondering why they even needed to knock. He could hear someone shuffling on the other side before an older woman opened the door. She lit up like petrol poured over a fire and fondly pulled the vampire into her arms. John was shocked when Sherlock returned her hug with one of his own picking her up off the ground with ease.

“Mrs. Hudson you are lovely as always.” Sherlock said layering on the charm so heavily that John was certain no one would ever fall for it as he set her back down on the ground.

“Hush you.” She said patting Sherlock on the shoulder with a smile that said she didn’t mind his attempts at flattery at all.

She ran one hand through his hair to straighten it out and subtly check to see he hadn’t been injured. “You’re finally looking decent again, I’d nearly forgotten what you looked like with you hiding under all that dirt. You had me so worried running off at all hours like that and coming home covered in blood and bruises and filth of all kinds. And the mess you made, I had to replace the carpets with a darker colour. They ensured me it’s much harder to stain. I had them save some of the old carpet for your experiments, but the new one is coming out of your rent young man.” 

She looked up and saw John standing on the pavement and her eyes lit up as she waved him over. “And you must be John come in, come in. Sherlock’s told me so much about you. It’ll be so nice to have another human around the house.”


End file.
